Wi Halfway Leader at Pebble Beach

Charlie Wi followed up his opening 9-under 61 at Monterey Peninsula Country Club's South course with a 69 at Pebble Beach. The 40-year-old South Korean, who attended Cal-Berkeley and resides in Southern California, stands at 12-under, three shots ahead of first-round co-leader, Dustin Johnson, who shot an even-par 72 at Spyglass Hill.

Wi had a wild day at Pebble Beach, carding five birdies, an eagle on the par-4 13th (his fourth hole as he started on No. 10), and four bogeys. The weather Friday wasn't quite as ideal as in the opening round, whose balminess was reflected in the generally low scores. "I thought Pebble played really difficult today," Wi said.

"The greens were very firm, and the guys that shot 8- or 9-under out there, I was very surprised how well they played. Some of the pins were really tricky. I said, 'Gosh, how did they shoot 9 under out there?' And for me to shoot 3-under today, I was very pleased," added Wi, who will play Spyglass Saturday, which is playing tougher this week than the other two courses in the rotation.

Despite Wi's assertions, there weren't many such scores out there, with Ryan Moore's 6-under 64 at Monterey Peninsula the day's low mark.

Johnson, who also started on the 10th hole, had an up-and-down day with four birdies - including three on his front nine - and four bogeys, with three on his back. "I played really well yesterday. I played good today," the South Carolinian admitted. "I just (threw) away some shots. I hit some poor pitch shots, just really bad. They weren't even pitch shots. They were dink chips, ones that you're trying to hole. And I just hit them terrible."

Brian Gay (5-under 65 at Monterey Peninsula) and Vijay Singh (68 at Spyglass) are tied for third at 8-under with the other 18-hole co-leader, Danny Lee (73 at Spyglass), Padraig Harrington (a 6-under 66 at Pebble Beach) and Brendon Todd (69 at Spyglass).

Several players share eighth at 7-under, including Phil Mickelson, who posted a 65 at Monterey Peninsula. "I don't know what happened, but I started to play a lot better and make some birdies," said Mickelson, who's won the event three times, with his last title coming in 2007.

"In the perfect conditions, I struggled. But to play these golf courses in such great condition either way has been a lot of fun."

Along with Moore, Tiger Woods is another stroke back at 6-under. After opening with a fine 4-under 68 at Spyglass, Woods carded another 68 at Monterey Peninsula. On Friday, he needed 33 putts despite hitting 85 percent of the fairways in regulation.

"It's very close," said Woods, who's making his 2012 PGA Tour debut and playing in the event for the first time in a decade. "I got my ball-striking to where I feel very comfortable hitting the shots. I just need to make a couple of putts to get on a roll.

"I'm hitting good putts," he added. "I'm not displeased with my putting at all. I just didn't hit the ball in the right spots to give myself the right looks. If we were putting smooth greens, it would be a totally different deal."

Woods next plays Pebble Beach and knows Saturday will be the critical juncture of the tournament for him. "Well, I'm six back," he told reporters. "So I need to make something happen a little bit over there. There are too many guys between myself and the lead. Some of the guys will be coming over here and playing Monterey. So I'm looking forward to seeing those low scores, so I've got to go get it tomorrow."

Other scores included a 1-over 73 by Ken Duke, who set a new back-nine record of 8-under 28 Thursday at Pebble Beach en route to a 64. He's tied with Mickelson for eighth place.

Defending champion D.A. Points rose up the leaderboard on Friday. After opening with a 72 at Spyglass, he shot a five-birdie 65 on the South course to go to 5-under.

Harrington and his amateur partner J.P. McManus moved into a commanding lead in the pro-am portion of the tournament. After starting with a net 57 at Monterey Peninsula, the team - thanks to Harrington's 66 at Pebble - posted a 12-under 60 and is now at 25-under 117, nine shots ahead of the field and 23 in front of defending champions Points and his partner, Bill Murray.

For all the scores, visit http://www.pgatour.com/leaderboards/current/r005/.

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